East Bay hoops star meets with president

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President Bush greets Amador Valley High basketball player Kevin Laue at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday. (Matt Sumner/Staff)

Amador Valley High basketball player Kevin Laue of Pleasanton gets scanned with a metal detector before meeting President Bush at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday. (Mathew Sumner/Staff)

Hours before he was to meet President Bush on a rare visit to the Bay Area, Amador Valley High basketball star Kevin Laue still had no idea what he would say to him.

“I guess I’ll figure it out on the car ride over,” the Pleasanton teen said Wednesday.

Despite being a conservative — he turns 18 in April and would like to vote for Mike Huckabee — Kevin said he’d rather avoid the topic of politics.

“I hope we don’t talk about that,” he said, but added that his family is very Republican and very excited that he was about to meet Bush.

Kevin, who has been the focus of much media attention because of his outstanding gameplay despite the lack of a left forearm, was invited to meet the president during a brief session at San Francisco International Airport.

Kevin and one other young person were to meet with the president. Richard Berwick, 18, a senior at Lowell High School in San Francisco, who was presented with the President’s Volunteer Service Award for his work with his school’s Building with Books program.

Kevin said he got his big opportunity because of a connection.

“My best friend’s cousin works as sort of a right-hand man at the White House,” he said. “You can see him in interviews sometimes, opening doors for the president.”

A video of Kevin in action was slipped to the administration, and the president checked it out.

They were impressed, as is everyone who sees the 6-foot-10 Laue at work on the court.

He is well known in the Bay Area as a force to be reckoned with. He has been playing for years and intends to keep doing so, with a goal to be the first college basketball player with one arm.

Kevin is currently considering various basketball scholarships, and an independent filmmaker is working on a documentary about him.

Kevin never had his left forearm. When he was born, doctors found his umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck, with part of his arm blocking it.

“The doctors said I would have died if my arm wasn’t in the way,” Kevin said.

He said he generally doesn’t notice what’s missing.

“Sometimes it can be annoying, like when I go to the mall and people stare at it,” he said. “But I can do anything anyone else can do.”

After hearing about Kevin, the president sent him a note saying “Keep up the good work.”

Then, a couple of months ago he was notified by the White House that President Bush would like to meet him when he came through town.

“When the president travels, he often meets with Americans who have overcome great obstacles and inspired others,” said White House spokesman Trey Bohn. “Kevin certainly fits that description and the president looks forward to meeting with him.”

Pleasanton Unified School District spokeswoman Myla Grasso said Kevin kept the invitation a secret.

“I just heard about it (Wednesday) morning,” she said. “I think only his closest friends knew. The kids who have come by today and hear about it all think it’s really cool.”

Grasso said it’s rare that a student receives such an opportunity.

“The last time something this exciting happened was when President Clinton’s helicopter landed on the Pleasanton Middle School field,” she said, referring to a 1995 visit.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.

At 6:03 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to reports of the robbery at the facility, 2301 Bancroft way, and learned that a man who snuck into the facility and began prowling through the building, taking cell phones and wallets from victims.

Investigators’ efforts to solve the case led to the arrests of Pablo Mendoza, 25, of Hayward, Brandon Follings, 26, of Oakland and Valeria Boden, 26, of Alameda, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.